In this article

Content Search in Office 365

12/7/2018

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In this article

You can use the Content Search eDiscovery tool in the Office 365 Security & Compliance Center to search for in-place items such as email, documents, and instant messaging conversations in your Office 365 organization. Use this tool to search for items in these Office 365 services:

Exchange Online mailboxes and public folders

SharePoint Online sites and OneDrive for Business accounts

Skype for Business conversations

Microsoft Teams

Office 365 Groups

After you run a Content Search, the number of content locations and an estimated number of search results are displayed in the search profile. You can also quickly view statistics, such as the content locations that have the most items that match the search query. After you run a search, you can preview the results or export them to a local computer.

Guided search - This option starts a wizard that guides you through the creating the search. The user interface to select content locations and build the search query are the same as the New search option.

New search - This option displays an updated user interface to create a new search. This is the default option if you click New search.

Search by ID List - This option lets you search for specific email messages and other mailbox items using a list of Exchange IDs. To create an ID list search (formally called a targeted search), you submit a comma separated value (CSV) file that identifies the specific mailbox items to search for. For instructions, see Prepare a CSV file for an ID list Content Search in Office 365.

The remainder of the steps in this procedure will follow the default new search workflow.

Click New search in the drop-down list.

Under Search query, specify the following things.

Keywords to search for - Type a search query in Keywords box. You can specify keywords, message properties such as sent and received dates, or document properties such as file names or the date that a document was last changed. You can use a more complex queries that use a Boolean operator, such as AND, OR, NOT, and NEAR. You can also search for sensitive information (such as social security numbers) in documents, or search for documents that have been shared externally. If you leave the keyword box empty, all content located in the specified content locations will be included in the search results.

Alternatively, you can click the Show keyword list checkbox and the type a keyword in each row. If you do this, the keywords on each row are connected by a logical operator ( c:s) that is similar in functionality to the OR operator in the search query that's created.

Why use the keyword list? You can get statistics that show how many items match each keyword. This can help you quickly identify which keywords are the most (and least) effective. You can also use a keyword phrase (surrounded by parentheses) in a row. For more information about search statistics, see View keyword statistics for Content Search results.

[!NOTE] To help reduce issues caused by large keyword lists, you're now limited to a maximum of 20 rows in the keyword list.

Conditions - You can add search conditions to narrow a search and return a more refined set of results. Each condition adds a clause to the search query that is created and run when you start the search. A condition is logically connected to the keyword query (specified in the keyword box) by a logical operator ( c:c) that is similar in functionality to the AND operator. That means that items have to satisfy both the keyword query and one or more conditions to be included in the results. This is how conditions help to narrow your results. For a list and description of conditions that you can use in a search query, see the "Search conditions" section in Keyword queries and search conditions for Content Search.

Locations - hoose the content locations to search.

All locations - Use this option to search all content locations in your organization. This includes email in all Exchange mailboxes (including all inactive mailboxes, mailboxes for all Office 365 Groups, mailboxes for all Microsoft Teams), all Skype for Business conversations, all SharePoint and OneDrive for Business sites (including the sites for all Office 365 Groups and Microsoft Teams), and items in all Exchange public folders.

Specific locations - Use this option to search specific content locations. You can search all content locations for a specific Office 365 service (such as searching all Exchange mailboxes or search all SharePoint sites) or you can search specific locations in any of the Office 365 services that are displayed.

Note that you can also add distribution groups to the list of Exchange mailboxes to search. For distribution groups, the mailboxes of group members are searched. Note that dynamic distribution groups aren't supported.

Important: When you search all mailbox locations or just specific mailboxes, data from MyAnalytics and other Office 365 applications that's saved to user mailboxes will be included when you export the results of a Content Search. This data will not be included in the estimated search results and it won't be available for preview. It will only be included when you export and download the search results; see Exporting data from MyAnalytics and other Office 365 applications in the "More information about content search" section.

After you've set up your search query, click Save & run.

On the Save search page, type a name for the search, and an optional description that helps identify the search. Note that the name of the search has to be unique in your organization.

Click Save to start the search.

After you save and run the search, any results returned by the search are displayed in the results pane. Depending on how you have the preview setting configured, the search results are display or you have to click Preview results to view them. See the next section for details.

To access this content search again or access other content searches listed on the Content search page, select the search and then click Open.

To clear the results or create a new search, click New search.

Preview search results

There are two configuration settings for previewing search results. After you run a new a new search or open an existing search, click ** Individual results ** to view the following preview settings:

Preview results automatically - This setting displays the search results after you a run a search.

Preview results manually - This setting displays placeholders in the search results pane, and displays the Preview results button that you have to click to display the search results. This is the default setting; it helps enhance search performance by not automatically displaying the search results when you open an existing search.

For a list of supported file types that can be previewed, see Previewing search results in the "More information about content search" section. If a file type isn't supported for preview or to download a copy of a document, you can click Download original file to download it to your local computer. For .aspx Web pages, the URL for the page is included though you might not have permissions to access the page.

Also note that unindexed items aren't available for previewing.

View information and statistics about a search

After you create and run a content search, you can view statistics about the estimated search results. This includes a summary of the search results, the query statistics such as the number of content locations with items that match the search query, and the name of content locations that have the most matching items. You can display statistics for one or more content searches. This lets you to quickly compare the results for multiple searches and make decisions about the effectiveness of your search queries.

You can also download the search statistics and keyword statistics to a CSV file. This lets you use the filtering and sorting features in Excel to compare results, and prepare reports for your search results.

To view search statistics:

On the Content search page in the Security & Compliance Center, click Open and then click the search that you want to view the statistic for.

On the fly out page, click Open query.

In the Individual results drop down list, click Search profile.

In the Type drop down list, click one of the following options depending on the search statistics you want to view.

Summary - Displays statistics for each type of content locations searched. This contents the number of content locations that contained items that matched the search query, and the total number and size of search result items. This is the default setting.

Queries - Displays statistics about the search query. This includes the type of content location the query statistics are applicable to, part of the search query the statistics are applicable to (note that Primary indicates the entire search query), the number of the content locations that contain items that match the search query, and the total number and size and items that were found (in the specified content location) that match the search query. Note that statistics for unindexed items (also called partially indexed items) are also displayed. However, only partially indexed items from mailboxes are included in the statistics. Partially indexed items from SharePoint and OneDrive are not included in the statistics.

Top locations - Displays statistics about the number of items that match the search query in each content location that was searched. The top 1,000 locations are displayed.

Export search results

After a search is successfully run, you can export the search results to a local computer. When you export email results, they can be downloaded to your computer as PST files or as individual messages (.msg files). When you export content from SharePoint and OneDrive sites, copies of native Office documents are exported. There are also additional documents and reports that are included with the exported search results. You can also just export the search results report and not the actual items.

To export search results:

On the Content search page in the Security & Compliance Center, click Open and then click the search that you want to export the search results for.

On the fly out page, click More, and then click Export results. Note that you can also export a search results report.

Complete the sections on the Export results fly out page. Be sure to use the scroll bar to view all export options.

Content search limits

Microsoft collects performance information for Content Searches run by all Office 365 organizations. While the complexity of the search query can impact search times, the biggest factor that affects how long searches take is the number of mailboxes searched. Although Microsoft doesn't provide a Service Level Agreement for search times, the following table lists average search times for a Content Search based on the number of mailboxes included in the search.

Keeping the following things in mind when using the keyword list to create a search query.

You have to select the Show keyword list checkbox and then type each keyword in a separate row to create a search query where the keywords (or keyword phrases) in each row are connected by the OR operator. If you just paste a list of keywords in the keyword box or press the Enter key after typing a keyword, they won't be connected by the OR operator. Here are incorrect and correct example of adding a list of keywords.

Incorrect

Correct

You can also prepare a list of keywords or keyword phrases in an Excel file or a plain text file, and then copy and paste your list in to the keyword list. To do this, you have to select the Show keyword list check box. Then, click the first row in the keyword list and paste your list. Each line from the Excel or text file will be pasted in to separate row in the keyword list.

After you create a query using the keyword list, it's a good idea to verify the search query syntax to make the search query is what you intended. In the search query that's displayed under Query in the details pane, the keywords are separated by the text (c:s). This indicates that the keywords are connected by a logical operator similar in functionality to the OR operator. Similarly, if your search query includes conditions, the keywords and the conditions are separated by the text (c:c). This indicates that the keywords are connected to the conditions with a logical operator similar in functionality to the AND operator. Here's an example of the search query (displayed in the Details pane) that results when using the keyword list and a condition.

When you run a content search, Office 365 automatically checks your search query for unsupported characters and for Boolean operators that might not be capitalized. Unsupported characters are often hidden and typically cause a search error or return unintended results. For more information about the unsupported characters that are checked, see Check your Content Search query for errors.

If you have a search query that contains keywords for non-English characters (such as Chinese characters), you can click Query language-country/region and select a language-country culture code value for the search. Note that the default language/region is neutral. How can you tell if you need to change the language setting for a content search? If you're certain content locations contain the non-English characters you're searching for, but the search returns no results, the language setting might be the cause.

Searching OneDrive accounts

To collect a list of the URLs for the OneDrive sites in your organization, see Create a list of all OneDrive locations in your organization. This script in this article creates a text file that contains a list of all OneDrive sites. To run this script, you'll have to install and use the SharePoint Online Management Shell. Be sure to append the URL for your organization's MySite domain to each OneDrive site that you want to search. This is the domain that contains all your OneDrive; for example, https://contoso-my.sharepoint.com. Here's an example of a URL for a user's OneDrive site: https://contoso-my.sharepoint.com/personal/sarad_contoso_onmicrosoft.com.

In the rare case that a person's user principal name (UPN) is changed, the URL for their OneDrive location will also be changed to incorporate the new UPN. If this happens, you'll have to modify a content search by adding the user's new OneDrive URL and removing the old one.

Searching Microsoft Teams and Office 365 Groups

You can search the mailbox that's associated with an Office 365 Group or a Microsoft Team. Because Microsoft Teams are built on Office 365 Groups, searching them is very similar. In both cases, only the group or team mailbox is searched; the mailboxes of the group or team members aren't searched. To search them, you have to specifically add them to the search.

Keep the following things in mind when searching for content in Microsoft Teams and Office 365 Groups.

To search for content located in Microsoft Teams and Office 365 Groups, you have to specify the mailbox and SharePoint site that are associated with a team or group.

Run the Get-UnifiedGroup cmdlet in Exchange Online to view properties for a Microsoft Team or an Office 365 Group. This is a good way to get the URL for the site that's associated with a team or a group. For example, the following command displays selected properties for an Office 365 Group named Senior Leadership Team:

To run the Get-UnifiedGroup cmdlet, you have to be assigned the View-Only Recipients role in Exchange Online or be a member of a role group that's assigned the View-Only Recipients role.

When a user's mailbox is searched, any Microsoft Team or Office 365 Group that the user is a member of won't be searched. Similarly, when you search a Microsoft Team or an Office 365 Group, only the group mailbox and group site that you specify is searched; the mailboxes and OneDrive for Business accounts of group members aren't searched unless you explicitly add them to the search.

To get a list of the members of a Microsoft Team or an Office 365 Group, you can view the properties on the Home > Groups page in the Office 365 admin center. Alternatively, you can run the following command in Exchange Online PowerShell:

Get-UnifiedGroupLinks <group or team name> -LinkType Members | FL DisplayName,PrimarySmtpAddress

Note

To run the Get-UnifiedGroupLinks cmdlet, you have to be assigned the View-Only Recipients role in Exchange Online or be a member of a role group that's assigned the View-Only Recipients role.

Conversations that are part of a Microsoft Teams channel are stored in the mailbox that's associated with the Microsoft Team. Similarly, files that team members share in a channel are stored on the team's SharePoint site. Therefore, you have to add the Microsoft Team mailbox and SharePoint site as a content location to search conversations and files in a channel.

Alternatively, conversations that are part of the Chat list in Microsoft Teams are stored in the Exchange Online mailbox of the users who participate in the chat. And files that a user shares in Chat conversations are stored in the OneDrive for Business account of the user who shares the file. Therefore, you have to add the individual user mailboxes and OneDrive for Business accounts as content locations to search conversations and files in the Chat list.

Note

In an Exchange hybrid deployment, users with an on-premises mailbox might participate in conversations that are part of the Chat list in Microsoft Teams. In this case, content from these conversations is also searchable because it's saved to a cloud-based storage area (called a cloud-based mailbox for on-premises users) for users who have an on-premises mailbox. For more information, see Searching cloud-based mailboxes for on-premises users in Office 365.

Every Microsoft Team or team channel contains a Wiki for note-taking and collaboration. The Wiki content is automatically saved to a file with a .mht format. This file is stored in the Teams Wiki Data document library on the team's SharePoint site. You can use the Content Search tool to search the Wiki by specifying the team's SharePoint site as the content location to search.

Note

The capability to search the Wiki for a Microsoft Team or Channel (when you search the team's SharePoint site) was released on June 22, 2017. Wiki pages that were saved or updated on that date or after are available to be searched. Wiki pages last saved or updated before that date aren't available for search.

Summary information for meetings and calls in a Microsoft Teams channel are also stored in the mailboxes of users who dialed into the meeting or call. This means you can use Content Search to search these summary records. Summary information includes:

Date, start time, end time, and duration of a meeting or call

The date and time when each participant joined or left the meeting or call

Calls sent to voice mail

Missed or unanswered calls

Call transfers, which are represented as two separate calls

Note that it can take up to 8 hours for meeting and call summary records to be available to be searched.

In the search results, meeting summaries are identified as Meeting in the Type field; call summaries are identified as Call. Additionally, conversations that are part of a Teams channel and 1xN chats are identified as IM in the Type field.

You can use the Kind email property or the Message kind search condition to search specifically for content in Microsoft Teams.

To use the Kind property as part of the keyword search query, in the Keywords box of a search query, type kind:microsoftteams.

To use a search condition, add the Message kind condition and use the value microsoftteams.

Note that conditions are logically connected to the keyword query by the AND operator. That means an item must match both the keyword query and the search condition to be returned in the search results. For more information, see the "Guidelines for using conditions" section in Keyword queries and search conditions for Content Search.

Searching inactive mailboxes

You can search inactive mailboxes in a content search. To get a list of the inactive mailboxes in your organization, run the command Get-Mailbox -InactiveMailboxOnly in Exchange Online PowerShell. Alternatively, you can go to Data governance > Retention in the Security & Compliance Center, and then click More > Inactive mailboxes.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when searching inactive mailboxes.

If a content search includes a user mailbox and that mailbox is then made inactive, the content search will continue to search the inactive mailbox when you re-run the search after it becomes inactive.

In some cases, a user may have an active mailbox and an inactive mailbox that have the same SMTP address. In this case, only the specific mailbox that you select as a location for a content search will be searched. In other words, if you add a user's mailbox to a search, you can't assume that both their active and inactive mailboxes will be searched; only the mailbox that you explicitly add to the search will be searched.

We strongly recommend that you avoid having an active mailbox and inactive mailbox with the same SMTP address. If you need to reuse the SMTP address that is currently assigned to an inactive mailbox, we recommend that you recover the inactive mailbox or restore the contents of an inactive mailbox to an active mailbox (or the archive of an active mailbox), and then delete the inactive mailbox. For more information, see one of the following topics:

Previewing search results

You can preview supported file types in the preview pane. If a file type isn't supported, you'll have to download a copy of the file to your local computer to view it. The following file types are supported and can be previewed in the search results pane.

.txt, .html, .mhtml

.eml

.doc, .docx, .docm

.pptm, .pptx

.pdf

Additionally, the following file container types are supported. You can view the list of files in the container in the preview pane.

.zip

.gzip

Partially indexed items

As previously explained, partially indexed items in mailboxes are included in the estimated search results; partially indexed items from SharePoint and OneDrive are not included in the estimated search results.

If a partially item matches the search query (because other message or document properties meet the search criteria), it won't be included in the estimated number of unindexed items. If an partially item is excluded by the search criteria, it also won't be included in the estimated number of partially indexed items. For more information, see Partially indexed items in Content Search in Office 365.

Exporting data from MyAnalytics and other Office 365 applications

Data from MyAnalytics (such as insights on how users spend their time based on mail and calendar data in their mailbox) and data from other Office 365 applications is a saved to a hidden location (in a non-IPM subtree) in user's cloud-based mailbox. After you run a Content Search, this data isn't included in the estimated search results, the query statistics, and it isn't available for preview. However this data will be exported when you export the results of a search.

The MyAnalytics data and the data from other Office 365 applications is exported to a folder named "Other Office 365 data". This folder includes subfolders for each user.

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